''Particularly since it happened, I have been much more aware generally, and much more aware of riding in a designated bike area,'' Ms Devine said.

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Among women, she is not alone.

Preliminary results from a bicycle survey on Tuesday morning found women were choosing the city's safest routes into the CBD, including the segregated lane on La Trobe Street, where there was a 30 per cent increase in the number of female riders.

The count, by the Bicycle Network, found routes judged ''safer'' were more popular with women than men.

They favoured Napier Street in North Fitzroy, Rathdowne and Canning streets in North Carlton and the Upfield rail line bike path.

''It's impossible to ignore the conclusion that a sure way to increase the numbers of riders in Melbourne is to make the network safe and attractive to women - wherever good routes are created they take to them instantly,'' spokesman Garry Brennan said.

He said there were more men than women on routes south of the city, where they were generally less safe.

Bicycle Network grades routes by degrees: from no interaction with cars at one extreme to ''too narrow'' bicycle lanes on St Kilda Road, where men were found to outnumber women three-to-one.

The count found key routes into the city carried between 600 and 1000 riders an hour during peak times. Mr Brennan said Docklands office workers were using bikes in greater numbers.

Melbourne City Council has launched a campaign to help reduce fatalities and serious accidents by 20 per cent over five years. Lord mayor Robert Doyle said there were four road deaths, 236 serious accidents and 846 other accidents in the city in 2012. Most involved pedestrians and cyclists, he said.

''You can put up signs and you can levy fines, but in the end you need to change people's behaviour,'' Cr Doyle said.

The campaign includes warning pedestrians to ensure they are alert and not distracted by smart phones or MP3 players.

The council will run the program until June at hot spots, including Collins Street and St Kilda Road, where drivers will be warned about the risk of ''dooring'' and being distracted behind the wheel.

101 comments

I have been cycling Melbourne streets for 20 years. Do not ride in the car door strike zone. Forget about right and wrong, it is called survival.

Commenter

rangerian

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

March 05, 2014, 9:35AM

Dumb question of the day:

Why are Australian motorists (and their passengers for that matter) not trained to look before they open their doors?My father is German, and he drummed that discipline into me with military precision - when opening a car door, first make sure that there is nothing coming from behind. Simple.

Commenter

G

Date and time

March 05, 2014, 11:01AM

Agreed. I never ride besides parked cars. You will always get at least one person who flings the door open and then has that surprised look to see a cyclist.

Commenter

Steve

Location

Stuck at Baxter

Date and time

March 05, 2014, 11:01AM

Why aren't the assault and manslaughter laws more consistent? A car door is as good a weapon as anything so why not treat it as such? The "one punch" attacks are vilified but the car door strikes are well tolerated. The result for the victim is not any different. Why is one type of stupidity frowned on and another rewarded.

Commenter

bg

Date and time

March 05, 2014, 11:17AM

What about when tram-lines force you to, such as Spencer St?

I dodged a car door (taxi - the driver) on Spencer St and got the front wheel caught in the tram tracks, sending me over the handle bars. 2 years of surgery to get my left arm working again (and it still causes problems 13 years later) and $15,000 in dental work to fix the teeth that were smashed to pieces. TAC would not cover because I did not actually collide with the car.

And of course, the person who opened the door just kept walking. While I lay dazed on the ground, the tram behind me started dinging it's bell to tell me to move. 2 Police watched from McDonalds but made no effort to help. A drunken stranger reeking of stale beer came over, helped me up, moved my bike out of the way and called a friend to collect my bike and an ambulance.

Commenter

Umm..

Date and time

March 05, 2014, 11:28AM

Same thing happened to me when a cyclist rode smack bang into the back of me on the promenade at St Kilda Beach (shared use). I wish there was some way of getting my medical bills paid, but I just keep limping along and sucking it up, terrified of every cyclist riding illegally on the footpath.

Commenter

Bored

Date and time

March 05, 2014, 9:37AM

Many cyclists behave very dangerously along the foreshore promenade at St Kilda. Many simply ride too fast in what is a very heavy pedestrian area. If a young child was hit- they would be killed. If you're a cyclist and you're reading this and you're one of those who goes fast please slow down. Enjoy the view with the pedestrians . If you don't have time take the road. Many of you are a real danger.

Commenter

Be Fair

Date and time

March 05, 2014, 9:59AM

Bored, I hope you were OK? Was it a 6 year old kid learning how to ride a bike on the footpath that ran in to you? Yes that's right, not every human riding a bicycle on the footpath is doing so illegally - it is perfectly within the law for kids. Either way, I suspect it was an inexperienced rider who would no doubt have been very apologetic. I think you would find that you could sue them (or their parent) for any medical bills, if you had really incurred any. By the way just think what condition you would be in if you had been crossing the road in St Kilda and were hit by one of the countless drivers rubbernecking or glued to their mobile phone? You certainly wouldn't be "limping along and sucking it up", you'd be in hospital or worse.

Commenter

Wake up

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

March 05, 2014, 10:09AM

I think James Cross would have something to say about that, but he was doored, run over by a truck and killed whilst riding in a marked bicycle lane. (It is usual for someone that is doored to sprawl into the next lane, which is why the risk cannot be taken to ride there - much safer to ride sufficiently wide that motorists actually understand you are in that lane).

Notably despite it being illegal to open a door into traffic, the police couldn't even be bothered charging the driver.

The odds of being killed by a cyclist are loosely similar to being struck by lightning. It does happen, but on a per cyclist km basis, its very low compared to motorized vehicles. Totally removing motorized vehicles from Sydney CBD area would probably reduce pedestrian, vehicle fatalities by 90%

Even with the absurd Sydney sharepath arrangements, pedestrians aren't currently dying.

Commenter

JB

Location

Syd

Date and time

March 05, 2014, 10:25AM

@Wake up: Actually adults riding with children twelve or under can also legally ride on the footpath.

The majority do the right thing, a minority of idiots exist in every single group.